A typical wireless system includes a multitude of interconnected base stations which communicate with fixed or mobile user devices within a given coverage area. It is important in the design, implementation or operation of such a system to have software tools for modeling the system, so that the impact of various system parameters on system performance can be easily and accurately determined. This software modeling approach can be used to predict the performance of the system under a wide variety of different configurations, and thereby avoids the difficulties associated with trial-and-error reconfiguration of an operating wireless system.
Examples of software tools that may be utilized for modeling of wireless systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,500, issued Aug. 26, 2003 in the name of inventors K. L. Clarkson et al. and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Derivative-Based Optimization of Wireless Network Performance,” U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,267, issued Oct. 7, 2003 in the name of inventors K. L. Clarkson et al. and entitled “Road-Based Evaluation and Interpolation of Wireless Network Parameters,” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,431, issued Jan. 11, 2005 in the name of inventors K. L. Clarkson et al. and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Characterization, Adjustment and Optimization of Wireless Networks,” all of which are commonly assigned herewith and incorporated by reference herein.
Despite the considerable advances provided by the techniques described in the above-cited U.S. patents, a need remains for further improvements, particularly in terms of modeling system performance subject to limitations on shared system resources such as power amplifiers and spreading codes.